


In Order

by MollyC



Series: The Measure of a Fandom [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen, Leaning on the Fourth Wall, Meta, Spoilers through Season Three, The Supernatural Novel Fandom, Timeline
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-16
Updated: 2013-05-16
Packaged: 2017-12-12 01:30:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/805578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MollyC/pseuds/MollyC
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Those publishers make no sense.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Order

From the LiveJournal of prentice_molly, July 2009

**Grand Unified Timeline Post**

All right.  I have just realized that no one's really done this yet.  If you ask, people will tell you about internal chronological order, but there's no one place to check--we need a wiki, here, folks, someone get on that!  In the meantime, LJ will do.  Many spoilers, in case that's not obvious.

**(Collapse)**

All books are numbered, like so: 1/1  _Supernatural_.  This means that it was the first book published and also the first in internal chronological order.  (No, no one has any idea why Edlund's publisher decided to publish out of internal order; maybe some kind of "These are the exciting ones!" thing?  No clue.) Therefore the first number is invariant, but the second can change as gaps are filled in-- _Heart_ was 19/24 until  _Tall Tales_ was published, and then became 19/25, and has continued to tick up since until its current place as 19/36.  Everyone got that?

As originally published, the series went:  _Supernatural, Wendigo, Phantom Traveler, Bloody Mary, Skin_ (a personal favorite), _Hookman, Bugs_ (Edlund, really?) _, Home, Asylum, Scarecrow, Faith, Route 666_ ("I miss conversations that didn't start, 'So this racist truck'.") _, Nightmare, The Benders, Shadow_ (John, you dick) _, Salvation, Bloodlust, Croatoan, Heart, Sin City, Fresh Blood, Mystery Spot, Jus in Bello_ _, No Rest For the Wicked._ If you ask at some shops, they'll still tell you this is "the complete series". They are wrong.

You can see how there may have been some...confusion.  After covering about nine months in 16 books, we spend 4 books going over more than a year.  We leave the boys in  _Heart_ , all angst-ridden because of the death of Madison, and the next time we see them in  _Sin City_ they're all angst ridden (I sense a theme) about some mysterious "deal" that Dean made.  Another 4 books later,  _No Rest For the Wicked_ happens, and apparently that deal means that Dean goes to Hell!  WTF, we're all saying.  So announcement of a new book was met with much rejoicing: we'll get to find out how Dean gets  _out_ of Hell.

Well, no.  What we got instead was  _Dead Man's Blood_ , and thus was born the need for the dual numbering system, because DMB was numbered 25 on the spine but by internal chronology it went between  _Shadow_ and  _Salvation_ \--at the time, 25/16, though now it's 25/20.  Book 26 was  _Hunted_ , which included the return of Gordon Walker from 17/18  _Bloodlust;_ Gordon also appears in #27  _A Bad Day at Black Rock_ and #21 _Fresh Blood_.  These two also include Bela Talbot, a supernaturally-aware thief who makes trouble for the boys.  _Hunted_ seems to follow directly after  _Croatoan_ \--like, the scene at the end of  _Croatoan_ is directly continued in  _Hunted._ ABDaBR is between  _Heart_ and  _Sin City_ , though closer to the latter than the former.

And then, and then!  You remember that cliffhanger at the end of #16  _Salvation_ , where Meg's all like, "I have your dad"? Book 28  _Devil's Trap_ actually follows up on that.  (I hope to God Edlund wrote this stuff in the right order, because otherwise keeping it all straight would be a stone bitch.)  And then there's  _another_ book-ending cliffhanger where John and the boys get hit by a semi after a terrible confrontation with Yellow-Eyes, and instead of making us wait ten more books Edlund gives us the resolution right away in 29  _In My Time of Dying_.  In which John sells himself _and the Colt_ to Yellow-Eyes in exchange for Dean's life.  I dunno about you, but I doubt Dean handled that well.  We'll have to wait 13 more books to find out just how badly he takes it, but in the meantime we jump to 30  _Born Under a Bad Sign_.  This is clearly after _Hunted_ , but before  _Heart_. 

Next, we go back in time,  _way_ back; book 31  _Dead in the Water_ slots in between  _Phantom Traveler_ and  _Bloody Mary!_  32 is  _Red Sky at Morning_ , which I have not personally read (someone bought the only copy my FLCS was able to get in, damn it.  For that matter, anyone got a copy of _Heart_ they're willing to loan out?  I'm sadly spoiled for it but I'd still like to read about Sam-angst).  Based on later results and comments in  _Fresh Blood_ , however, RSaM must be before FB.  Bela's in this book and appears again in 33  _Dream a Little Dream of Me_ and 34  _Time is On My Side_.   _Dream_ seems to go right before 22 _Mystery Spot_ (we do eventually discover where the boys met the Trickster before, BTW), and  _Time_ is Bela's death, forshadowing Dean's in  _No Rest_.

Now we go back again, filling in the sparse center of the series with 35  _Nightshifter_ , which follows  _Hunted._  It's the "first" appearance of Victor Henricksen, an FBI agent who's convinced that Dean at least is a psychotic serial killer--remember way back in  _Skin_?  Henricksen comes back in  _Folsom Prison Blues,_ #36 _._ (Henricksen's "last" appearance is in 23 _Jus in Bello_ , which was the first one published.  Publishers!  Also I have not read it; all I know is that Henricksen dies, which is too bad because I like how hardassed he is.)

Next, a pair of related books: 37 _Crossroad Blues_ and 38 _All Hell Breaks Loose,_ the latter being nearly twice as long as the usual for the series.  CB fits in before  _Croatoan_ and establishes that it's possible to make a deal with a demon even if you're not special like John so that demons make personal appearances; you go to a crossroad, bury some stuff in a box, and get a demon (with red eyes, not black or yellow).  The demon gives you what you want--it seems to be pretty unlimited--and you get ten years to enjoy it.  Then the hellhounds come and drag you away.  (Anyone who's a blues or early rock fan may have heard this tale before.)  It becomes relevant in AHBL.  See, Yellow-Eyes, whose name is  _finally_ revealed as Azazel _,_ kidnaps a bunch of kids Sam's age and sets them against each other,  _Battle Royale/Hunger Games_ style.  This has all been in the works since the prologue of  _Supernatural_.  And halfway through the book, one of the other kids stabs and kills Sam, and Dean drives to a crossroads and sells his soul for Sam's life.  But because John and the boys have been making so much trouble for the Hordes of Hell, he doesn't get ten years; he gets one.  And thus the deal that Sam can't save him from in _Mystery Spot_ is explained.

It was at about this point that I began to wonder when the heck we were going to get the book where Sam rescues Dean from Hell.

I am still wondering.

Anyway. 39, 40, and 41 are  _Hell House, Something Wicked,_ and  _Provenance_.  They go right in a row, between  _Shadow_ and DMB.  In  _Provenance_ , Sam gets a love interest who doesn't die!  Though he does not actually sleep with her so perhaps that's where the curse comes in.  Continuing the fill-in theme is 42  _Everybody Loves a Clown_ , which goes after  _In My Time of Dying_ and shows Dean flipping out and beating up on the Impala!  43 and 44 are _Simon Said_ , which features one of the special kids who died in AHBL, and _No Exit_.  They go between _Bloodlust_ and _Crossroad Blues_.  Between _Nightshifter_ and BUaBS comes 45 _Houses of the Holy_ , another I'm missing.  #46 is  _Tall Tales_ , the "first" appearance of the Trickster from MS; it's after BUaBS and before  _Heart_.   _What Is and What Should Never Be_ is #47; I am inclined to put it before FPB but some sensible people disagree with me.

After AHBL comes 48  _The Kids Are Alright_.  After  _Fresh Blood_ is 49  _A Very Supernatural Christmas_ , in which we finally disover the origin of the amulet Dean wears all the time; Sam gave it to them when they were kids, awwww.  (And this is why RSaM has to be before FB; comments in the latter make it clear that it's fairly late in December and there isn't really time for RSaM to happen between them.)  And, last but not least, the final currently published book is 50  _Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things,_ which again got bought out from under me.  The blurb at the end says that the next book will be called  _The Usual Suspects_ , and from the looks of it will be somewhere in the  _Simon Said-Nightshifter_ range.

In terms of story, there are still plenty of places for books to be filled in: between  _No Exit_ and _Crossroad Blues;_ maybe _Hunted_ and _Nightshifter;_ there's space on either side of _Heart._  It seems like there has to be something between AHBL and TKAA.  You could fit something either before or after RSaM, and before DaLDoM.  JiB seems to follow right on MS, but there's room after it for a book.  Assuming that Edlund doesn't get off his ass and write about  _getting Dean out of Hell._

OK, now the big finish.  I've indicated blanks for possible fill-in spots but not numbered them.

1/1 Supernatural  
2/2 Wendigo  
3/3 Phantom Traveler  
31/4 Dead in the Water  
4/5 Bloody Mary  
5/6 Skin  
6/7 Hookman  
7/8 Bugs  
8/9 Home  
9/10 Asylum  
10/11 Scarecrow  
11/12 Faith  
12/13 Route 666  
13/14 Nightmare  
14/15 The Benders  
15/16 Shadow  
39/17 Hell House  
40/18 Something Wicked  
41/19 Provenance  
25/20 Dead Man's Blood  
16/21 Salvation  
28/22 Devil's Trap  
29/23 In My Time of Dying  
42/24 Everybody Loves a Clown  
17/25 Bloodlust  
50/26 Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things  
43/27 Simon Said  
44/28 No Exit  
 _(possible fill-in, maybe 51 The Usual Suspects?)_  
37/29 Crossroad Blues  
18/30 Croatoan  
26/31 Hunted  
 _(possible fill-in, maybe 51 The Usual Suspects?)_  
35/32 Nightshifter  
45/33 Houses of the Holy  
30/34 Born Under a Bad Sign  
(possible fill-in)  
46/35 Tall Tales  
 _(possible fill-in)_  
19/36 Heart  
 _(possible fill-in)_  
47/37 What Is and What Should Never Be  
36/38 Folsom Prison Blues  
38/39 All Hell Breaks Loose  
 _(likely fill-in)_  
48/40 The Kids Are Alright  
27/41 A Bad Day at Black Rock  
20/42 Sin City  
 _(possible fill-in)_  
32/44 Red Sky at Morning  
21/45 Fresh Blood  
49/46 A Very SPN Christmas  
 _(possible fill-in)_  
33/47 Dream a Little Dream of Me  
22/48 Mystery Spot  
23/49 Jus in Bello  
 _(likely fill-in)_  
34/50 Time Is On My Side  
24/51 No Rest for the Wicked

**Author's Note:**

> ...I accidentally meta.
> 
> What I did was print out a list of S1-3 episodes, number all the ones that we see on-screen in "The Monster At The End of This Book", and then go back and fill in by characters and plot elements, like "This book has Henricksen/Bela/Gordon" or "This one is about Dean's deal" or whatever, and then picked a cutoff for published books at 50, just because it was a round number. After "The Usual Suspects" is "Playthings", "Hollywood Babylon", "The Magnificent Seven", "Bedtime Stories", "Malleus Maleficarum", "Ghostfacers", and "Long-Distance Call". And "Roadkill" just doesn't exist. I picked it at random from non-"arc" episodes because I figured there had to be one that didn't get published at all. :)


End file.
